A blog for Small Business Consultants and the vendors who serve them. It contains Opinions on business success, News in the SMB consulting space, and Information on what I'm up to.All material Copyright (c) 2006-2020 by Karl W. Palachuk unless otherwise noted.

Great Speakers - including some of the biggest movers, shakers, and thinkers in the IT consulting industry today!

Unique Content - Not just the same presentations you see again and again, city after city. You might travel as much as me, but you'll never see all these amazing presentations in one place - except here.

It's NOT a vendor-focused pitch-fest. We figure you're paying to get a seat, so speakers will not be selling from the "stage."

PLUS

No travel

No hotel bills

No hotel food

Everything is recorded - And you have perpetual access! So you can re-watch a presentation any time you want

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

CX - Customer Experience - is becoming more important every year. Why? Primarily because of two factors: 1) The Cloud and 2) Clients have more choices than ever.

We used to talk about customer service. Trust me, it's still important. In fact it's critical. But the meaning of customer service changes as your interaction with clients changes. If you have a storefront, most of your customer service is face to face and in person. If you have an Internet-only business, then most of your customer service is reflected in the shopping experience, the email experience, and the overall experience when things go wrong.

Thus, the Customer Experience is something you need to think about - and create with intention. If you don't "create" an intentional CX, you will still have one. It just might not be the experience you were hoping for.

Let's start by making this 100% relevant to your company today. What is your clients' experience?

What do clients "hate" about modern tech support? Well, for starters, they don't like entering tickets in your system - especially if they've been your client a long time. They also don't like seeing a different face every time they have work done. They don't want to be shuffled around between technicians.

Clients have never liked being taken for granted. How much of your current CX makes them feel special?

A few major variables are play here. First, we have to acknowledge that the way we deliver service is changed by the fact that we are delivering more products and services over the Internet. O365 supported remotely is different from MS Office installed from a DVD and supported by a technician who sits in the client's chair while working.

Note that newer, younger clients probably prefer the remote support. They are not interrupted. They can sit at their computer and do other things while you work. They appreciate quick support over the personal touch.

Bus a second factor is your history with the client. History always matters! Clients have a right to say, "I've paid you tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars over the years. I deserve to be treated like I'm important." When clients don't feel important, it hurts a lot more when they know they've given you a lot of support and money over the years.

One of the absolutely unbreakable rules of business is:

Don't be more loyal to vendors than they are to you.

Think about it. When your cell phone company pisses you off (or your favorite distributor, airline, or supplier), you make a calculation in your head. You have have been loyal to them due to quality of products, quality of service, and a sense that the two of your are in this together.

Until you're not in it together. At some point you realize that you're in it long after they've stopped caring about your business.

I had this experience with Verizon. I had them for almost 18 years, starting when they bought my old cell phone provider. CX got worse and worse over time, but I didn't pay much attention. And then, one day, I had a truly horrible experience. No one would help. Top to bottom. In the store or online. Supervisors, managers, and up the chain.

That's when I realized that I had been loyal to them long after they had stopped being loyal to me. So I moved to another carrier - and wondered why it took me so long.

Well, in this case, you're the vendor.

What is your client's experience with your company? Do they brag about you? Do they love you? Are they grateful to be in a relationship with you?

What does it feel like to be your client during an urgent situation? Let's say a laptop fails at the moment that the sales manager has to make a live presentation in front of their biggest client, for a project that might increase next year's revenue by 20%.

How do they get a hold of you? How do they get service? What do they do? Does it feel good? How would you like to go through that experience?

I used this out-of-the-ordinary example because those are the kinds of events that make people question their whole relationship with you. Uninstalling and reinstalling a driver has (probably) never caused a client to question a relationship into which they have pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A great CX will strengthen a client relationship.

A bad CX will make a client question the relationship.

A horrible CX will make a client go looking for your replacement.

Stay tuned: There ARE ways to fix your CX with standard operating procedures.

Sunday, January 19, 2020

My topic is How To Get Out of Your Own Way and Start Implementing Your Decisions. I'll also be at the MSP Breakfast Monday morning. Would love to see you there.

Many people can't make decisions for their business. This ends up costing them money in the long run. For example, the longer you don't have an RMM tool, the longer you give up the revenue you could be earning with that tool.

But more importantly, many people make a decision - and then never implement it. They know what they need to do. They want to do it. They intend to do it. They know they need to do it. They even know that not doing it is holding them back. But they just don't execute.

We've all done it for a number of reasons. I'll talk about how you get over the bump and move ahead quickly. Don't miss it!

For Solution Provider executives looking to grow your organization, build stronger relationships with vendor organizations, and network with peers, XChange is the ideal event. Taking place March 1st-3rd at the JW Marriott in San Antonio, TX. XChange 2020 will bring together 225 Solution Provider Executives with 75+ sponsoring vendors for 2 ½ days of peer networking, educational content on business strategy and market trends, and vendor interactions in a hosted experience (your travel and hotel are provided with no conference fee).

2019 was a great year for small business IT. And 2020 is looking good as well. As always, I'm going to spend the year committed to helping IT service providers build successful businesses that look to the future of technology and guarantee their success moving forward.

Tune in to learn more!

Technology is always a changing environment. And with IoT, drones, Cloud Services, and all the other emerging technologies, it's no exaggeration that there's more opportunity in our business than ever before..

Are you getting your share of all the new recurring revenue opportunities?

Tune in to learn more.

Karl's 11th Annual State of the Nation Address for SMB IT
January 15th
9:00 AM Pacific
NOTE: This webinar is recorded and you can view at MSPWebinar.com.

- - - - -

This is always a very popular webinar - but don't worry. I have 500 seats available and and will buy more if we need them.

One of the things I've learned is that there's about a 50% drop-off rate when things are free. If registration reaches 1,000, I'll buy the extra seats.

Friday, January 10, 2020

I get emails and requests. When I give advice, no matter how small, I like to share it more broadly in case someone else is having the same problem.

Here's a recent response to the plea for more leads.

(I've said many times, the most common request I ever get is how to get more leads and more prospects.)

Marketing
is one of those things you have to do all the time and never stop.

My
favorite ways to get new leads are direct mail and speaking at local events.

I particularly like local speaking gigs because there are hundreds of opportunities. In addition to business Meetups, there are clubs, associations, and professional groups. They are all filled with business people. And many of them (e.g., Rotary and Kiwanis) share an approved speakers list.

Here are some notes about speaking at public events.

Step One: Log into www.meetup.com (or whatever the equivalent is in your country).

Enter a search for "business" within 25 or 50 miles from your location. Whatever you're willing to drive. You will probably get at least twenty hits.

In addition, there are all kinds of Kiwanis and Rotary and
other clubs. They all need a presenter every week or every month.

Step Two: P

ut together a 15 minute presentation on how to protect
yourself from viruses or ransomware, or a related topic. Make it very practical and business focused. Zero techno-babble.

Ideally, such a presentation will be welcome everywhere.

Step Three: Prepare a handout that you can distribute to the group. It
should have “Ten Top Tips” or something like that – and your contact
information in the footer. Make it look good so people might photocopy it and
put it on their bulletin board.

And your only ask at the end of your presentation is: If you
know someone else who needs this presentation, please give them my name.

Take questions. Take business cards. And stick around
afterward in case anyone wants to talk.

You might even have a sign-up sheet for people who want you to follow up, visit their offices, etc.

Step Four: Follow up with every single contact you make. Call them and email them (minimum one call and one email each).

- - -

As with all marketing, there's no guarantee that you'll get invited to someone's office. But this was one of my favorite methods of getting new clients. Associations and professional groups are the best.

Remember: Most of the time, most of the people you meet do not need what you're selling. So you need to talk to a lot of people. And you need to be top of mind on the day they DO need someone.

Also remember: This is a never-ending process. Don't put off marketing until you need new clients. Start and never stop.

Wednesday, January 08, 2020

- 7 Figure MSP Live Event Series is the world’s first MSP event in the industry with an exclusive focus on a sales-first mindset.

- These live event series take place quarterly, alternating between different locations. The first event in the series will take place in Phoenix, Arizona.

Austin, TX – 7 Figure MSP announced their quarterly Live Event series by kicking off the first quarter for “Spring Break” in Phoenix, Arizona at the Wild Horse Pass Hotel & Casino. The 7 Figure MSP Live Event series are designed to teach entrepreneurs how to add seven figures to their revenue by focusing on a sales-first mindset through this sales and marketing focused event.

The event is the world’s first Managed Service Provider (MSP) event in the industry with an exclusive focus on a sales-first mindset. Over the course of two days, attendees can meet with 7 Figure MSP Founder and CEO, Chris Wiser, along with some of the top MSPs, vendors, and experts in the world.

While the MSP industry tends to focus on a tech-first/engineer-first mentality with low to zero budget and thought process around sales and marketing, the two-day packed live event series equips entrepreneurs with the proper resources to discover and understand relevant and proven sales strategy, sales execution, marketing systems, in addition to networking opportunities.

Managing Your Service Board - Setup, Core SOPs, and Daily Procedures

This course covers the most important pieces of making your PSA (Professional Services Administration) service board work effectively. Your PSA is the brain center of your entire operation.

Most Managed Service Providers don't use their PSA systems efficiently. In fact, most of them only use 10-20% of the capabilities of their PSA. This costs you money because you have the tool to run everything in your business more effectively. But if you don't put the right information into the tool, then you can't get the reports you need to improve your business.

This course covers the daily operation of a managed service business - or any IT shop with a service board and a one or more technicians who execute the service. It assumes you have a service board or PSA (Professional Services Administration) and a service manager.

Whether you sell “break fix” or flat fee services, a service board will take your company to the next level – if you use it right. In addition to covering setup and core standard operating procedures, we'll get into the "nitty gritty" of running a service board and managing the service department.

Which PSA?

I used ConnectWise for four years in my business. Then I switched to Autotask and used that for five years. Eventually, I moved to LogicNow (SolarWinds MSP) and used that for four years.

On top of all that, I've worked closely with coaching client who have used all of these products. This course is intended to apply to all PSAs. I will point out areas where differences are most obvious.

You will learn

How tickets should flow into, through, and off of the service board

How to set up the core components of a service board

Priorities

Statuses

Workflows

Time Estimates

The most important processes and procedures for making the board work effectively once it's set up

Introducing new processes to you employees

Getting clients to understand the new processes

Time tracking the right way

The most important reports you need to run

Every Day

Every Week

Every Month

When it's time for client renewals

Avoiding the biggest pitfalls with service board management

Building an Action Plan that works

Additional Topics include:

Welcome to the Service Department

After Hours Work

On Call and Night Staff

Managing Internal Administrative Tasks

Assign Techs or Rotate Them?

Approved Tools

Employees in The Tech Department

Technician Daily Time Management -- includes daily work flow

Time Tracking for Employees

The Tech on Call for The Day - Managing Daily Workflow

How to Maximize Billability of Technicians

Email Rules and Etiquette for the Consultant

Technician Supplies

Final Friday Training

Troubleshooting Guidelines

Troubleshooting and Repair Logs

Service Delivery Policies and Procedures

The First Client Visit

Guide to a Service Call

The Network Documentation Binder - NDB

Response Times - Guarantees and Delivery

Time Entry and Note Entry in Service Tickets

Information Sharing

Service Board Backlog Management

Daily Monitoring of Client Machines

Patch Management Philosophy and Procedures

Setting Up Alerts in Your PSA and RMM

New PC Checklists

Server Down Procedures

Third Party Tech Support - Documenting Calls

Third Party Tech Support - Rules of Engagement

Document Pouches

Service Focus: Monthly Maintenance

Why We Do Monthly Maintenance

Scheduling Monthly Maintenance and On Site Visits

Checklist for Major Scheduled Maintenance

The Monthly Maintenance Checklist

Monthly Single Checklist

Outsourcing (some) of Your Monthly Maintenance

Backup Monitoring, Testing, and Management

Disaster Recovery - An Overview

Delivered by Karl W. Palachuk, blogger and author of the very popular "SOP Friday" posts.

Includes five weeks of webinars with related handouts, assignments, and "office hours" with the instructor. All classes are recorded for download.

This course is intended for business owners and managers. It is particularly useful for the Service Manager or Operations Manager.Only $299Register Now

Managed Services on Amazon

Hot Books for Managed Services

This four-volume set is the definitive guide to Managed Services. From the front office to the tech department, we cover it all. Every computer consultant, every managed service provider, every technical consulting company - every successful business - needs SOPs!

When you document your processes and procedures, you design a way for your company to have repeatable success. And as you fine-tune those processes and procedures, you become more successful, more efficient, and more profitable. The way you do everything is your brand.

How to Deliver Successful, Profitable Projects on Time with Your Small Business Clients

Small Business project management is simply not as complicated as project management in the enterprise. But small business projects have the same challenges as enterprise projects: They need to achieve their goals effectively, on time, and within budget.

They also face the same primary challenge – staying inside the scope of the project!

This great little book provides a simple process project planning and management process that is easy to learn and easy to teach to your employees, fellow technicians, and sub-contractors. You’ll learn to track any project, explain all the stages to clients and employees, and verify that everything is completed on time and under budget.

The authors show you a great technique for making sure that scope creep is a thing of the past! Make every project a successful and profitable project!

FTC Disclosure Statement

I make every attempt to honestly state what I believe and enjoy the freedom of posting whatever I feel like on this blog. This is a big complicated world and I have many interconnected personal and professional relationships.

I may in some way receive money or other benefits from any of the products, services, or companies mentioned in this blog as a direct or indirect result of my actions on and off this blog. Any experience mentioned here is just my experience and I have no knowledge about whether it represents a typical experience with any products, services, or companies mentioned.

Whenever it is possible to have both an honest and a misleading interpretation of my statements, please assume honesty. Thanks. - karlp